Navy Flying One-third Of Gulf Sorties

February 21, 1991|By A.J. PLUNKETT Staff Writer

VIRGINIA BEACH — Three days before launching an air war against Iraq, military advisers told President Bush to expect to lose at least five Air Force planes a day and up to 150 aircraft in the first week, a top Navy official said Wednesday.

Five weeks into the air campaign against Iraqi President Saddam Hussein's forces, only 22 U.S. airplanes have been lost to enemy fire, said Vice Adm. John K. Ready, commander of the Atlantic Fleet's Naval Air Force.

Although most of the public focus goes to the Air Force's role in the war, Ready said almost one-third of the 80,000 combat sorties flown as of Wednesday morning have been by naval aviators, both ship- and ground-based.

``The total combat readiness of our forces has never been better, and it has paid off handsomely,'' said Ready after change of command ceremonies for Tactical Wings, Atlantic, at Oceana Naval Air Station.

During the ceremony, held in a hangar only yards from a flight line parked with F-14 Tomcat fighters and A-6 Intruder attack bombers like those now in combat over Iraq and Kuwait, Rear Adm. Frederick L. Lewis handed over the Tactical Wings command to Rear Adm. Paul W. Parcells.

Commander since October 1988, Lewis has been responsible for the training and readiness of the 17 Hampton Roads-based naval air squadrons currently flying missions off four Atlantic Fleet carriers as part of Operation Desert Storm in the Persian Gulf region.

The command's preparation of the fleet's Tomcat, Intruder and E-2C Hawkeye surveillance aircraft squadrons has been vital in the air war, Ready said in remarks during the ceremony.

A concentrated air war campaign against roads, bridges and other transportation routes has destroyed or cut off 90 percent of Iraq's ability to re-supply and communicate with its troops, Ready said.

``Our ability to hit Saddam and his inability to hit us is what air warfare is all about,'' Ready said.

``Our Tomcats had the Iraqi pilots sweating bullets on the way to their planes,'' Ready said.

Of six aircraft carriers in the gulf region, four are from the Atlantic Fleet: the USS America, USS John F. Kennedy and USS Theodore Roosevelt, all from Norfolk, and the USS Saratoga from Mayport, Fla.

Those four ships have been able to sustain a significant mission rate - the ships recorded 400 sorties Tuesday - while keeping 90 percent of their aircraft operating at full mission capability, Ready said.

``We are deeply saddened by our combat losses,'' Ready said, but better training, better weapons and other technological advances have decreased the number of casualties this war has seen compared with the Vietnam War.

Since the Gulf War began five weeks ago, allied forces have averaged about one combat casualty for every 3,000 missions flown, a rate which is about a quarter of that averaged by U.S. forces in eight years of sorties over Vietnam, Ready said.

``The record shows we're four times more survivable in this war than we were in Vietnam,'' Ready said.

Of the 22 U.S. planes lost in combat, seven have been Navy planes, including one F-14 Tomcat and two A-6 Intruders from Oceana, Ready said. Of those Hampton Roads crews, three men are missing in action while three others are prisoners of war, he said.

For his work in training and preparation of the Tactical Wings squadrons, Lewis was awarded his third Legion of Merit award, the third-highest meritorious service award the Navy bestows.

In taking over command, Parcells faces a challenge in maintaining the same levels of readiness while under major budget constraints as well, Ready said after the ceremony.

(``That's a major challenge for us. If we come down in force structure, we must not let the quality in training and the quality in people suffer,'' Ready said.)

``Training funds have to support the force structure. We cannot have a hollow force'' and be expected to meet the next Third World threat, Ready said.

Parcells comes to Virginia Beach from Washington, where he was deputy assistant to the Secretary of Defense.

Lewis' next assignment is commander, Carrier Group Four, in charge of all Atlantic Fleet at-sea training.